| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: 1789.*
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THE BRETHREN.
SLUMBER and Sleep, two brethren ordain'd by the gods to their service,
Were by Prometheus implored, comfort to give to his race;
But though so light to the gods, too heavy for man was their burden,
We in their slumber find sleep, we in their sleep meet with death.
1789.*
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MEASURE OF TIME.
EROS, what mean'st thou by this? In each of thine hands is an hourglass!
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: a week later as he watched the Countess Olenska enter
the van der Luyden drawing-room on the evening of
the momentous dinner. The occasion was a solemn
one, and he wondered a little nervously how she would
carry it off. She came rather late, one hand still ungloved,
and fastening a bracelet about her wrist; yet she entered
without any appearance of haste or embarrassment
the drawing-room in which New York's most
chosen company was somewhat awfully assembled.
In the middle of the room she paused, looking about
her with a grave mouth and smiling eyes; and in that
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: service----"
"But does your post take away your right of free speech, my
dear? You come of quite as good a house as the Bourbons. If the
Guises had shown a little more resolution, His Majesty would be a
nobody at this day. It is time I went out of this world, the
noblesse is dead. Yes, it is all over with you, my children,"
she continued, looking as she spoke at the Vidame. "What has my
niece done that the whole town should be talking about her? She
is in the wrong; I disapprove of her conduct, a useless scandal
is a blunder; that is why I still have my doubts about this want
of regard for appearances; I brought her up, and I know
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: she was wonderfully pretty.
Eugenia kissed her, as she had kissed the other young women,
and then held her off a little, looking at her. "Now this is quite
another type," she said; she pronounced the word in the French manner.
"This is a different outline, my uncle, a different character,
from that of your own daughters. This, Felix," she went on,
"is very much more what we have always thought of as the American type."
The young girl, during this exposition, was smiling askance at every
one in turn, and at Felix out of turn. "I find only one type here!"
cried Felix, laughing. "The type adorable!"
This sally was received in perfect silence, but Felix, who learned all
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